Seven Wrestlers Ranked in Associated Wrestling Press Poll

NORFOLK, Va. – Seven members of the Old Dominion University wrestling team are ranked nationally in their weight class in the 2014-15 Associated Wrestling Press Preseason Poll.

The highest ranked ODU wrestler is redshirt sophomore Jack Dechow (Richmond, Ill.) who is No. 2 at 184 pounds. Dechow, who won the 2014 Mid American Conference title, finished fourth in the country as a redshirt freshman. He finished the season with a 21-6 overall record, taking down nine national qualifiers in the process.

Redshirt junior Chris Mecate (Highland, Calif.), who is No. 8 at 141 pounds, qualified for the NCAA Championships last year as the 5th-seeded wrestler at 141 and won the opening round match. Mecate placed third at the Southern Scuffle and finished the season 28-9, 7-1 in the MAC and 14-4 in duals.

Junior Alexander (Lenny) Richardson (Jersey City, N.J.) is ranked No. 14 at 149 pounds. Richardson, the MAC Championships Runner-Up, qualified for the NCAA Championships as the 16th seed last year and won his first round match. He finished the season 26-10 overall, 6-2 in the MAC and 15-3 in duals. During his sophomore season he defeated nine NCAA qualifiers.

Ranked 21st at 165 pounds is redshirt senior Tristan Warner (Mechanicsburg, Pa.). The redshirt senior qualified for the NCAA Championships after placing fourth at the MAC Tournament. He finished the season 19-13 overall, 6-2 in the MAC and 16-6 in duals. He also placed second at the Wolfpack Open and capped his junior season winning the Elite 89 Award for having the highest GPA of any wrestler in the NCAA Championships.

Sophomore Brandon Jeske (Virginia Beach, Va.) comes in at No. 21 at 125 in the preseason rankings poll. Last season, he placed third at the MAC Championships and reached a top-20 ranking in both AWN and InterMat polls as a true freshman. He finished the year ranked 20-15 and defeated five national qualifiers.

During the 2013-14 season Beazley finished with an 18-14 record and took first place at the Wolfpack Open. He led the Wrestling Monarchs lineup with five falls and capped his season with a fourth-place finish at the MAC Championships. Over the summer, Beazley won his second-straight Greco-Roman International Wrestling Federation (FILA) Junior World Team Trials and qualified for the Junior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

Tourdot finished the 2013-14 season with a fourth-place finish at the MAC Championships, which was just one place shy of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. He began the year with a 6-2 record and also placed third at the Wolfpack Open.

ODU will officially begin the season with a pair of opens on back-to-back weekends in November. First the squad will head north to the Binghamton Open on Nov. 9 where three-time defending national champions Penn State will likely be in the mix. ODU will then trek to Raleigh, N.C. on Nov. 16 for the Wolfpack Open.

Be sure to follow Old Dominion Wrestling on Twitter at twitter.com/ODUWrestling and find them on Facebook at facebook.com/OldDominionWrestling.